The Affair
by Turbulent Skies
Summary: Read to discover the real repercussions of a moment of weakness.


The Affair   
by Turbulent Skies  
Rated: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is not mine. After reading this, you   
will be glad:-D  
  
The air that followed the confession was charged by silence.   
Haruka was pacing; she couldn't stand this tension. Michiru was   
staring straight ahead, her ocean blue eyes unfocused. The slender   
violinist held herself straight. Her hands in her lap were clenched,   
knuckles whitening under the stress.  
  
Usagi kept her eyes on Mamoru. He looked shocked and   
bewildered.   
  
Haruka finally attempted to say something on their behalf.  
  
"It was just a moment of passion. It doesn't change anything."   
She tried to convince herself as well as them, but her words sounded   
hollow. In the end she leaned back against the wall with her arms   
folded and studied her shoes.  
  
"Haruka... I never would have thought...never would have   
suspected." Michiru was trying very hard to control her voice. "I   
thought we..." Her voice trailed off  
  
Usagi stared at the man with whom she'd been through so much.   
  
"Mamo-chan?" she said ever so softly.   
  
"Usako," he whispered. The one emotion laden word spoke   
volumes more than a thousand ever could. He still wouldn't look her   
in the eyes.  
  
Usagi began to tremble. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks.   
  
"Mamo-chan?!?" She was starting to realize what her tryst   
might have cost her.  
  
The young man swallowed hard.   
  
Michiru couldn't take anymore. She didn't want to think   
about them together. She didn't want to see them in the same room.   
She rose stiffly.   
  
"I'm going home."  
  
Haruka glanced up in surprise. "Do you want me to drive   
you?" she offered.   
  
"No!" the aqua-haired woman's refusal was sharp. "I can   
drive myself." She walked to the door and closed it firmly behind   
her.  
  
The sound echoed through Haruka's chest. She sucked in   
an agonized breath. "Michiru," she whispered.  
  
Mamoru suddenly rose to his feet. He, too, needed to   
escape, this room, these suffocating walls. Usagi was right   
behind him, staring with tortured eyes. He walked to the door.   
  
"Goodbye, Usako." He started to leave, but years of  
having good manners drilled into him made him pause. "Haruka-san."   
He inclined his head then left.  
  
The odangoed blonde collapsed on the couch, sobbing as   
if her heart would break. Haruka knew she should go, take her into   
her arms, and make the tears stop, but when she looked at the woman   
she had once so desperately lusted after, she was only filled with   
frustration and annoyance. What good did crying do? Mamoru and   
Michiru were gone...ahh Michiru. She ran a hand through her sandy   
blonde bangs. She needed to get out of here. She needed to drive   
and drive. Yes, that was it she needed... to feel the wind in her   
face and drive until it didn't hurt anymore.  
  
"Are you going to be all right?" she asked the weeping   
blonde.  
  
"Mamo-chan is gone...I need, I need to see Rei-chan," Usagi   
said brokenly.   
  
"I'll drive you," Haruka said pulling out her keys. They   
studiously avoided any physical contact as they made their way   
to the convertible.  
  
Michiru sat in the car. Her shoulders ached from the grip   
she had on the steering wheel, but she hardly registered the sensation.   
Every time the agonizing pain in her heart threatened to well up and   
engulf her in wave of despair, she would take a deep breath and remind   
herself that ladies didn't cry. 'Get it together, Michiru.'   
  
Haruka had slept with another woman, not just any other woman,   
but their princess. Michiru had been out of town and Mamoru busy working   
on his thesis. Haruka had taken the opportunity to pick up Usagi to go   
to the beach. What should have stopped at a picnic on the beach had   
snowballed into something more, but no matter how Michiru felt, it   
didn't matter. Ladies didn't let their emotions rule them. That's   
what Michiru's mother had always said and Michiru was a lady. The   
salty droplets dripped from her delicate chin and pooled on her silk   
dress.  
  
She pulled into the driveway. She felt strangely exhausted.   
She would just go lay down for a while. She opened the front door.   
Hotaru saw her immediately.  
  
"Michiru-mama!" she screamed and raced toward her parent.   
Michiru stepped into the foyer, her arms wrapped tightly around her   
middle.  
  
Hotaru skidded to a stop on the thick carpet.  
  
"Michiru-mama?" the smile faded from the girl's face. Setsuna   
came in from the kitchen.  
  
"Michiru? " The garnet eyes held concern. "Are you all right?   
What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing... oh... shimatta." Her eyes stared down at her   
street shoes that she had forgotten to remove, then tears blurred   
her vision.  
  
  
Mamoru opened the door to his apartment. He knew that   
soon the insulating shock would wear off and he would have to deal with   
the emotions that roiled beneath the surface. He needed to throw himself   
into activity, into something, anything. He didn't want to think about   
his friend, or his fiancée. He just needed something to do, but there   
was nothing. He sat on the couch and held his head on his hands.  
  
The cherry blossoms frolicked in the breeze and tangled in a   
rich curtain of dark hair. Hino Rei shielded her eyes and stared up at   
the sun. She'd had a feeling of unease all day long. She couldn't pinpoint   
it though.   
  
"Rei-chan!"   
  
The priestess' head snapped up.  
  
"Usagi?"  
  
"Rei-chan!!" Usagi fell to her knees before she pushed herself to   
her feet again tears streaming down her face. The dark haired young woman   
barely had time to catch the blonde.   
  
"What's wrong? Is Mamoru-san all right?"  
  
"I...had..."  
  
"Had what?" Rei asked. She had no idea what this could be   
about; her violet eyes mirrored her confusion.  
  
"Haruka-san and I..." The blonde dropped her gaze.  
  
Haruka pushed her car to its limits. Her foot was fully to the   
floor. She hadn't wanted to tell them. She had just wanted to hide   
the memory away in part of her heart. She'd actually tasted the   
forbidden fruit and it had been good. At least she had thought so   
in the beginning  
  
But to never have Michiru again. To never see Michiru's   
eyes light with joy when she got to play in the surf. To never   
hear her mate's soft sighs while she slept. How she sometimes   
leaned her head against Haruka's shoulder. How she loved sashimi.   
How smart she was. How funny she was. How precious she was. A   
primal scream was growing in Haruka's chest.   
  
Michiru lay on her side, staring at the distant wall. Sleep   
wouldn't be merciful and claim her. Instead she was left alone with   
her thoughts. How could Haruka do this? Hadn't Michiru waited years   
to find her "destined one"? For the first time Michiru questioned   
whether or not that one was Haruka. Maybe Neptune had someone other   
than Uranus. Hadn't it always been Michiru who had reached out?   
  
She was the one who had initiated their relationship. She   
had moved her things into Haruka's apartment. Neptune had nearly   
given her life for Uranus many times over. She still remembered the   
time that Tin Nyanko had attacked them; the princess... had dove for   
ChibiChibi and Haruka for the unprotected Usagi. Michiru had taken   
the brunt of the blast herself. At the time it had been duty, but   
now Michiru wondered if Haruka would have cared at all if Michiru   
hadn't survived. Michiru decided that she had done it once before,   
and could do it again; living alone wasn't so bad.  
  
Across town Mamoru rose and fixed himself some tea. He was   
functioning on autopilot. He loved his future wife and if this is   
what made her happy... Before Usagi had crashed into his life in   
a whirlwind of tears, smiles, and burned cookies, there had been   
nothing. He had no family, but soon they had learned they had a   
daughter. Suddenly Mamoru had everything he had ever wanted. He   
would do nothing to jeopardize their future together. If this   
meant that he had to ignore this affair, then so be it. He   
walked to his window and stared outside. He knew he couldn't go   
back to his life before; he could not bear being alone.  
  
Minako's eyes blazed with rage, her fist clenched.   
  
"Haruka-san seduced her! How could she do that to   
Usagi-chan!"  
  
Rei was taken aback by her friend's anger, but she   
understood the emotion that fueled it.   
  
"Minako-chan, she says that they're both to blame."  
  
"Maybe it's time that we faced the fact that Usagi-chan   
is not as pure as we had thought," Ami said calmly.  
  
Makoto stared out the window her hands wrapped around   
her cup of hot tea.   
  
"I don't understand," she whispered softly. "Usagi-chan   
and Mamoru-san loved each other and Haruka-san and Michiru-san..."   
Her voice trailed off. She turned back to the other three solemn   
faces. "They loved each other. Didn't they?" There was no answer.  
  
  
Usagi made her way up the steps to Mamoru's apartment. She   
knocked on the door. A very exhausted Mamoru slowly answered. Circles   
were under his eyes and his shirt was open.   
  
"Mamo-chan?" Usagi began hesitantly.  
  
"Usagi-chan?" he answered inclining his head. Usagi's heart   
burned as she noted that he hadn't used his usual endearment.  
  
"Mamo-chan... Mamo-chan, onegai."  
  
"May I get you some tea?" he asked, not meeting her pleading   
gaze. He stepped aside to let her enter his apartment and closed the   
door behind her.  
  
"Please, Mamo-chan. I love you."  
  
The silence was deafening until there was a subtle relaxing   
of his muscles.   
  
"Yes... Usako. I love you too."  
  
She dropped to her knees before him and hugged his legs as   
she cried tears of relief. Mamoru reached out a hesitant hand and   
placed it on a blonde odango.  
  
Haruka stood staring out at the sea. She and Michiru had   
spent so much time here together. They could never come back here   
without those memories to haunt them. She had defiled their sanctuary.   
She dropped to the sand and simply stared out at the angry waves. She   
needed to see Michiru, needed to see if there was some way she could   
fix their relationship.  
  
When she arrived at the home she shared with the other Outer   
Senshi, Setsuna met her at the door.  
  
"Where is Michiru?" Haruka asked softly.  
  
"Upstairs. I'll get her." Haruka nodded and walked into the   
living room. It was strange to her that objects that had once held   
so much familiarity and comfort, were now unfamiliar. She heard a   
squeak on the steps behind her and turned to see Michiru coming   
down the steps. Haruka's heart wrenched at the sight of her   
girlfriend. Michiru looked so delicate. The aqua haired woman had   
her arms wrapped tightly around her waist. Her delicate complexion   
was pale making the fatigue in her eyes more pronounced. Haruka   
knew that Michiru had been crying and that had been her fault. The   
violinist turned and went into the kitchen. Haruka followed closely   
at her heels.  
  
TOnce they reached the kitchen, Michiru kept her back to   
Haruka. The young artist stared out the window into the growing   
twilight, her back stiff and tense. Behind her Haruka stood with her   
hands deep in her pockets.  
  
"Michiru?"  
  
"Hai, Haruka?"   
  
The blonde noted with relief that her lover was still calling   
Haruka by her given name. "Michiru... Can we fix this?"  
  
Michiru's hard blue eyes remained uncompromising. "Maybe," she   
said simply.  
  
  
Notes: Terrible I know, but someone needed to write it. Infidelity is   
a terrible thing. There isn't very much romantic about it.  



End file.
